The court has permitted Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to remove billboards erected on road reserves without approval from its Director General.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the Director General must approve before the billboard is erected on road reserves as required by section 49 of the Kenya Roads Act.
In the ruling, Justice Hannah Okwengu said “may” in section 49(1) means mandatory.
The judges made the decision in an appeal filed by KeNHA in a case pitting the authority and Tangerine Investments Ltd.
The company had won the case against KeNHA after the authority destroyed its billboards placed on both sides of the Southern bypass interchange bridge along Mombasa Road and others on Thika highway.
“The respondent before us never complied with sections 49 of the Act, a statutory edict which prohibits the erection of structures and other works on, over, and below roads or certain another land except as provided under sub-section (2) of the said provision, which vests the appellant with the discretion, to give or refuse to give permission under the said section,” the judges said.
